A small cardboard box in the Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn has sold for $150,000 this morning, setting a new high watermark for budget alternative housing in the city.
The box, which features one bedroom, one kitchen, a bathroom, and a modest living area – all of which are the same room – was won at auction by a foreign bidder, who plans to add the home to his investment portfolio, which already includes multiple Auckland homes, including an even smaller box he purchased in Manukau for $57,000 earlier this year.
According to the home’s listing on the website of real-estate company Barfoot & Thompson, it is “suitable for one to two people,” and “the highest standard of housing available at this price range.”
According to the realtor, it has a “fantastic location” and spectacular views of “the outside,” from a small hole poked in the back of the box.
The home is said to be “weathertight,” though “probably not when it comes to rain.”
“Some of our clients prefer security, others like to go out on a limb and get a good deal,” said Charlotte Emson, associate salesperson for Barfoot in Grey Lynn. “Really, we’re not going to push people one way or the other, but it all comes down to whether the customer thinks it’ll rain at any point in the future.”
“I know there are a lot of people who might be a little shocked at the price, but it’s a steal in the current market,” she explained. “As the price of conventional housing continues to rise, so will the price of boxes like this one, because at the end of the day, young people, you know, under-50s, need some way onto the property ladder, and this is a golden opportunity.”
Political reaction to the sale has been swift, with Green Party co-leader James Shaw questioning why a box like this would sell for such a high price, when politicians like the Prime Minister and others “probably have plenty of boxes at home that people could live in.”
But Prime Minister John Key this afternoon dismissed Shaw’s rhetoric as “opportunistic,” saying that the sale has “nothing to do” with housing, and is not indicative of a housing crisis, because “it’s not a house, it’s a box.”
“I think most New Zealanders would agree that houses aren’t boxes,” he told National Radio, “and this is a box, not a house, I think, you know, I mean, that’s fairly obvious, I would have thought.”
Key acknowledged the sale did indicate a “certain kind of spike” amongst “box prices.”
“Certainly I think that’s quite a high price for a box,” he said. “And look, if you want to say it’s a house, if it is a house, then that’s quite a cheap house, actually, so that’s another way to look at it.”